NEW YORK: During the Climate Week NYC Opening Ceremony, HP announced a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal for its first-tier manufacturing and product-transportation supply chain partners, which is a first for the ICT industry.

HP CEO Meg Whitman announced the goal via video link to the gathered crowds at the Opening Ceremony of Climate Week NYC. She said: “HP is taking some bold steps to respond to this challenge, not only by reducing our own footprint, but to fundamentally change the carbon footprint of IT.”

"HP has one of the largest supply chains in the industry. It's imperative to manage it not just efficiently, but also ethically and in an environmentally sustainable way," said Tony Prophet, senior vice president, Operations, Printing and Personal Systems, HP. "We understand the importance of reducing our carbon footprint, promoting sustainability throughout the IT supply chain and driving innovation that creates a better world and brighter future."

Developed in consultation with the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers Program, the emissions-reduction goal will be driven through activities such as:

Business incentives for suppliers to set and achieve GHG emissions-reduction goals.

Public reporting through the company's Global Citizenship Report on supply-chain GHG emissions to create awareness among HP's supply base and demonstrate progress.

In 2008, HP became the first major IT company to measure and publish aggregated supply chain GHG emissions. Since 2008, HP also has implemented projects that cut emissions from product transport collectively by 190,000 metric tons CO2 equivalents.

Today, the CDP, released its CDP S&P 500 Climate Change Report 2013, awarding HP 99 out of a possible 100 points for its CDP Disclosure Score and rating HP in its highest performance band, CDP Performance Band A. The score is based on how well a company communicates emission reduction efforts, and the performance band shows how much a company has integrated a climate change strategy to reduce emissions.

"To accelerate our transition to a low carbon economy driven by innovation, we need businesses to set bold targets that translate into action," said Mark Kenber, CEO, The Climate Group. "The Climate Group's SMART2020 report was the first to demonstrate the vast potential the ICT sector has in cutting global emissions by 2020. HP's commitment capitalizes on that potential and is the mark of true low carbon leadership in action. We need to see more companies in the ICT sector following HP's lead."